Conversation: starting from a programmer's start

Zhou Hongyi, who left Yahoo China, is now an idgvc investment partner. As a venture capital, he naturally has an endless topic about entrepreneurship. Because Zhou was a programmer and has always been a loyal reader of this magazine, he hopes to discuss the topic of "Programmer Entrepreneurship" from the perspective of investors.
On a Friday evening, in a bar on Guanghua Road, Beijing, this magazine will discuss with Zhou Hongyi. Zhou Hongyi, who arrived far from Changping, was late for half an hour due to traffic jam. After talking about the meeting for a day, his voice was a bit hoarse. However, after dinner, Zhou Hongyi expressed his views in a fast tone.
Reporter: I have already seen you have been interviewed on other media and talked a lot about entrepreneurship. In the face of programmers, what is special about entrepreneurship?
Zhou Hongyi: This is true. Recently, due to my identity, I only accept entrepreneurship topics. I am willing to talk about my point of view about programmer entrepreneurship because I was a programmer and started from a small company. Seeing them is like seeing me, I am very concerned about programmers, including shared software authors and some small websites. I hope to share some experiences with them.
First of all, I want to say that smart people may not be able to succeed. Most programmers are very good and smart, but smart people may not be able to succeed. I hope that programmers will be aware of this. I hope that my point of view can help programmers, even if I have a feeling for a certain sentence and help them grow in the future. This is enough.
The Chinese programmer group has two distinct characteristics, which can be seen in the csdn Forum: A group of people feel good about themselves and they are experts, the other group complained that the company and the social environment were not good and the treatment was not good.
It should be said that China's business environment is indeed not very mature, so the success rate of Chinese programmers in entrepreneurship is also very low. There are not many successful people on the Internet in China who come from programmers.
I would like to say that here I am talking about programmer entrepreneurship rather than making money. It is easy to earn money. To write a shared software, you can earn millions a year. But what I want to talk about is not to tell programmers how to make money, but to tell them how to start a business. For example, from the perspective of entrepreneurship, the authors of many shared software have a high income and no worries about food and clothing.
Reporter: According to your observations, what do Chinese programmers lack in entrepreneurship?
Zhou Hongyi: the first is a cooperative mentality, which is generally lacking by programmers. Of course, this is also determined by the special reasons of this special group.
A programmer's personality is mostly arrogant and stubborn. These features are advantageous when writing a program. You must be confident and persistent in order to write the program. On the other hand, these features are fatal flaws in business. We often say this: Attitude determines everything. Programmers often feel that they are doing a very great thing in the world. This is to drive the machine, modify a line of code, and the machine can work and generate different behaviors. This will easily give programmers the illusion that they can control everything. The confidence of programmers is very much needed in programming, but it is not suitable for all occasions. If we don't talk about this, many programmers still think they are king of the world.
In fact, the programmer's ability only controls a machine. But it is absolutely not enough for a start-up to deal with machines. He also needs to deal with partners, competitors, investors, employees, and even the entire social environment. Many programmers are used to dealing with machines and are not good at or willing to do other work. Many Programmers think that "marketing is not very simple, the market is very simple, and management is very simple ." I think this mentality is very harmful.
The programmer is stubborn. He thinks that he is the chief of the machine, so he is not flexible and will not compromise. I said this because I had such a personality. The more excellent programmers, the more obvious these features, but when I realized these problems, I forced myself to change my role.
Reporter: Should you often deal with programmers of different levels during your company? What are the stories and impressions?
Zhou Hongyi: I have received several letters from programmers these two days. In a letter, "I am such a good programmer. Why can't I succeed? Please give me some advice. Here is my blog address. After reading it, you will understand me ." What I want to say is: If you really want the help of others, you have to tell the truth, instead of saying that you are excellent. This language will make others feel uncomfortable, not a good communication method. I actually read that blog, but after reading it, I think this programmer is a fantasy.
It can be said that many programmers are actually arrogant because they do not want to start a business. They may encounter problems when working in the company. Therefore, I even think that programmers encounter more difficulties in entrepreneurship than other types of employees. If programmers want to lead a startup, they may first force themselves to be not a programmer.
Reporter: we should not only talk about programmer entrepreneurship, but also start from programmers. What changes should we make to avoid these problems?
Zhou Hongyi: Yes. Start a business. Programmers must first learn to cooperate with others. At this point, many programmers will say, "I am writing programs with other programmers. I will cooperate ." However, this kind of cooperation is one-sided. What I talk about is not only the cooperation between programmers and programmers, but also the cooperation between programmers and various other roles. The languages between programmers are easier to understand. But as a programmer, can you cooperate well with business and sales personnel.
I have seen many examples over the years: programmers can set their goal as Bill Gates. In fact, Bill Gates should not be the target object of programmer worship. This will lead programmers to lose their way, because another Microsoft founder, Paul Allen, is the real programmer and Gates has become a manager. Looking at other examples, the two founders of Adobe are also proficient in technology and business. Such a combination is more conducive to success. Therefore, for many programmers, it is necessary to find a true example and not to be confused by external stories. If you open up the appearance of some stories, you will find that many successful programmers abroad must have a strong sense of business or a team behind them.
Reporter: that is to say, programmers should be involved in entrepreneurship rather than necessarily leaders?
Zhou Hongyi: programmers do not feel very well in business. Even if there is a sense of business, this is actually just an inspiration and a creative idea, but to make it bigger, you still need a series of management, market, operation, these are unimaginable for programmers. Programmers should understand that finding a partner team that can make up for their defects is the way out in areas they are not good. Joining a startup team may account for 10% of individuals, but because it is easier to succeed and the team can do 100 points. However, if you do this by yourself, it is very likely that you will fail. For example, Google's 20th programmers can get $0.5 billion, which is also a success.
In this regard, foreign programmers are clear about their own length. In Silicon Valley, many programmers are very technical, but they all know that they are only at a high level in the field of technology. When they come out of this field, they have nothing to do with themselves. With this mentality, they know how to work with others. I think programmers outside of China are generally aware of this. They are willing to become a member of the entrepreneurial team rather than start their own business.
Therefore, programmers need to adjust their mentality and never regard themselves as elites. They must admit that they are excellent in programming, but there will always be others who are better than themselves. For other fields, it is very likely that you are very ignorant. You must know that programmers have the least choice, so an open mind is the most important.
Reporter: Do you think there is a gap between domestic programmers and entrepreneurial requirements?
Zhou Hongyi: I think many programmers have too little experience. He has never done a lot of work seriously, so he talks about entrepreneurship. If a programmer has not gone deep into programming and has not accumulated, it is half a bottle of vinegar. I have been familiar with such programmers, and they do not know where the problem is, making people feel and hate. In my opinion, since programmers must rely on their own technologies, they must be steadfast and be able to achieve any idea.
But now some programmers do not have business consciousness, but are very conceited. They do not believe in others, and do not do things that they do not understand. I have met many programmers who have doubts about the direction of the company. They hope they can think clearly first, but it takes a long time to think about it. These programmers have not accumulated much and do not have any direction, but they do not believe in their own companies and bosses. This is a paradox and requires the programmers to deeply reflect on it. You know, every company has people who know business.
In this way, some programmers are extremely conceited, and some programmers feel very inferior after encountering many nails, so they think that the domestic software industry is not good, and finally they go abroad or work, few programmers can make fair comments on themselves.
Reporter: Do you think that the domestic environment is a factor that causes impetuous programmers?
Zhou Hongyi: I have never considered this before. But I think, in any case, programmers need to find problems first, because the big environment is like this. I admit a reality: the programmer's survival status is not very good, but many complaints from programmers are actually a contrast between unrealistic expectations and their own defects.
First, there is no product size, only the market size. Many people always think that this is also small, so it doesn't look like it. They think that the company's products are boring. To do this, they have to do what some people in the csdn Forum say: a 3D engine must be used for games, it seems that this is enough. This is actually an impetuous. Many programmers write software with a lot of bugs and weak basic knowledge. If they haven't participated in a few projects and haven't written 100,000 lines of code, do they want to talk about big projects? Is this valuable?
In addition, I also found that some programmers were particularly angry with the environment and scolded the boss. In fact, they could only make their own mentality very bad. Many people did very poorly when they first entered the company. Although the salary was low, he did not expect to add a lot of bugs to the company. The company was actually offering him tuition. On the Forum, everyone was discussing how to save less money. Some people even listed some blacklists. The result of this approach is that the programmer himself gets angry with the environment around him.
Some programmers also like to give advice to the company. I personally think This is not impossible, but it is reasonable to blame other companies for their own advantages. If you don't see it, it turns out that you don't understand it. I have seen many programmers write blogs. I think technical exchanges are very good, but some people write comments. I think programmers do not want to be critics. There is no shortage of critics in China. What is lacking most is real practitioners.
In short, programmers are generally too self-satisfied. It is impossible to really understand what the world is when we live in the world of ourselves. I realized these problems very early and tried to overcome them. My experience is to see how others do well, why they do well, and what I cannot understand. Programmers must learn to stand on others' positions to view problems.
Reporter: What suggestions do you have for programmers who want to start a business?
Zhou Hongyi: For programmers, it is easy to do now. This requires a lot of practice, and it is necessary to cultivate the product and business feelings. Some of my suggestions may seem to be loyal, but they are definitely full of heart. For most programmers, their chances of success are very small, so I think it is more appropriate to join a startup team. There are many companies that start their own business at the beginning, and they also need a lot of excellent programmers to join. If you have an ideal idea, you can choose to join a team and have corresponding shares. In this regard, I can serve as a bridge.